You can save a lot of weight if lets say your installing a solid state drive or putting in a second hard drive but if you know that you use the CD/DVD disc drive a lot then you might just want to leave the drive alone.

Also wondering how much weight I'd save by just removing. My drive is broken for ages, but I have not needed it in ages. The HD was already replaced by a cheap SSD (second best thing after upgrading to 8GB), so I'd appreciate losing some weight. I mean, the computer. Although I could lose some too... erm... well, anyway, I guess the lack of the DVD would not interfere with anything, right? Opinions?

The issue is not one of weight but an issue with the systems cooling and an opening which objects could enter. For a few grams of weight I don’t think its worth it! A better solution would be to swap out the heaver HD for a much lighter SSD, and getting all of the performance benefits of the faster drive as well!

While you might not think it the optical drive also acts as a stiffener so there is less twist in the case. This is because of the size of the hole for the DVD/CD’s so taking it out weakens the case design.

this website is amazing. I read it to guide me on fixing my mac book pro, but on the video, the girl gives a wrong information.. She says that is not possible replace just the keyboard... But I managed to replace only my keyboard. It is boring because I have to remove approximately 70 screws but it is possible. Thanks a lot! You guys helped me save about US$300 thats because in Brazil some technicians would charge me with that amount!

Tip: Use one of those weekday pill holders to have a cheep way to store screws you remove and each day of the week can be for different sizes or parts. It has been handy to have (much less expensive than the magnetic mat.

Just want to say that this site is a great resource for repairing or upgrading your Mac. I had a bad SATA cable in my MacBook Pro and after ordering a new one from the "IFIXIT" site I received the cable within two days, replaced it and was up and running again in no time. Thanks IFIXIT for you help!

I have found that my MacBook Pro 13 Late 2011 has five shouldered screws and not four. I am not sure exactly where it goes but I have put it in the top left corner of the picture as it is the odd one out.

I found with mine that the shouldered and un-shouldered screws were reversed (the three un-shouldered screws going where the orange colour indicates). Also, I found that the front four screws went in at an angle.

I used 3 eggcups to hold the screws ;>) They are very fiddly and easy to drop on floor so keep the MacBook away from the edge of the surface you are using to avoid accidentally dropping a screw off the edge of a table, etc.

Since you’ll be removing many screws it’s best to plan ahead. I found it especially helpful to have a small plastic tray with about a dozen separate compartments to hold screws. As I removed screws I kept them in one compartment for each item removed. For example: The lower case removal involves the removal of ten screws. I kept them all in the first tray compartment and set the lid aside. Also, I put a post-it note identifying this compartment as “Lower case” and noted that the top right-most screws were the long ones. I continued with this methodology as a removed the next item, and the next, etc. Disassembly notes included for each compartment. This helped SIGNIFICANTLY as I was able to reassemble the Macbook easily by simply going from one compartment to the next (in reverse order). This guide is rated “Difficult” which it really isn’t when you plan ahead in this way. It saves time in the long run.

when putting the macbook pro back together, the middle screw on the right side (if the computer is upside down and you have the hinge furthest away from you) requires a bracket that was not included with my new upper case. i had to remove it from my old case and transfer it over - if you don’t do this, that screw will have nothing to attach to.

this was one of the many additional parts i needed to transfer from my old case to the new one that aren’t mentioned in this guide…i’m adding comments on each step to try to help others…i wish i had thought to take pictures.

The screws used on all Retina models, as well as about everything Apple has made since the iPhone 4, uses “PENTALOBULAR” not Phillips screws. These look like a TORX driver, but it has 5 concave sides. I believe the size you want is a P4 or T4. (1.2mm).

If you are following this guide to upgrade to a better drive and want to keep your system and data intact I highly recommend first following the guide to Clone an Existing Drive using the recommended free SuperDuper!. That process was a breeze and gives you confidence that the new drive will come up looking exactly the way it did when you started.

My top tip - make sure you buy good quality Phillips screwdrivers and a magnetic holder. Cheap screwdrivers won’t get the screws undone safely. Without a magnetic holder you have no chance of getting the tiny crews in and out safely.

Did you properly ground yourself to the case before putting the spudger to the connector/logic board? Did you use a spudger or something else that is non conductive...or did you use a flat blade metal screw driver instead and compound your error by not grounding yourself before touching the logic board? All kinds of variables here but the bottom line is iFixit provided you a guide to fix your computer. Lots of others have followed this guide without trouble. Your battery issues are not their fault. They did say this guide was moderate difficulty...maybe it's just a little beyond your skill level. We should all know our limits!

Rather than be careful of the corners of the connector i would say don't use the spudger anywhere near the corners. While the corner looks like the obvious place to begin to pry it up from, it will break. Levering from the sides as the instructions suggest works well.

Don't know what the deal is with the battery, but this IS a necessary step to keep from frying the logic Board if you accidentally touch something and short it out. I did this step every time during my troubleshooting and The battery was ALWAYS recognized by the system the next time I turned the MBP on. So be safe and don't fry your logic board in the process...

Prying the battery connector off does not take much force. I did exactly what the guide suggested (walked it off back and forth) with the spudger without any problems. Just be very gentle, much like with anything inside laptops, they are very fragile and need to be worked with carefully. A+ instructions, battery replacement was a success.

Installed/upgraded 4gb RAM to the system maximum 16gb and installed a 500 gb SSD today....DID NOT disconnect the battery cable....no issues at all when I powered back up. Then did a clean install of OSX Yosemite....next I used a time machine backup to put all my stuff back on the new HD. From start to finish it took about 4 hours. Macbook boots up right at 16 seconds now.

Its a lot easier and safer (corner wise) to pry it using the flat side of the black spudger directly in front of the connector (don't go/use the corners) very easily you will be able to pry it further by inserting the spudger into a better and thicker plastic section of the connector

DON'T remove the Battery Cable, you risk the battery NOT being recognised when you start the Mac up again, or breaking it!! More to the point, APPLE DOES NOT RECOMMEND THIS, so don't do it! I Installed 2x 8GB ( 16Gb total) of Crucial Mac RAM at 1333Mhz for my Late 2011 MacBook Pro, and it works beautifully, fully recognised and working well. I followed these instructions, but as Apple didnt recommend disconnecting the battery, I skipped this step, and as well as taking less time, nothing was damaged or broken, and everything works perfectly!!! Just make sure that you DISCHARGE ALL STATIC ELECTRICITY FROM YOUR HANDS, by touching a metal surface in the Mac. Apple recommends the edge of the Optical Disk Drive ( Big silver thing ) before touching any parts. Also, Take care removing the RAM out of its packet, DO NOT touch the Gold connectors, and hold the RAM by the edges. Finally, be PATIENT, GENTLE and it should all go perfectly. I managed it first time, with no technical ability, so follow my advice. Good luck!

This comment made me think that disconnecting the battery was no point at all, because really - how would the computer be able to switch on by it self. So... I had my mac flipped around and was fiddling with the last part of the guide when I all of a sudden hear the start up sound! Don't know how and why it did. I turned it around with it guts open and guts hanging out. Screen was on. I forced it to shut down by keeping the power button down. Turned it back and first thing removed the battery cord.

Luckily the computer started up just like normal. But hearing that sound was just too scary.

I removed the battery cable for the repair. When I plugged in the MagSafe adapter after the repair, the Mac turned on automatically without pressing the power button and I was a bit worried, but after a restart everything worked fine again. I did have to reset date and time in Preferences. The battery was recognized OK.

I always do this when working on MacBooks (over ten years) and it never caused an issue. Don’t worry about this step as removal of the battery connector is simple. This particular connector is pretty much goof-proof as it won’t break. I’m fairly aggressive and just pop it off whenever I’m working on the Macbook Pro.

The guide worked perfectly, as it has in the past (our family has three Mid-2012 Macbook Pros that have been separately upgraded with RAM and SSD).

The PH00 screwdriver fit perfectly.

One note on getting the screws to seat easily and thread perfectly...always turn them gently a couple turns to the left (CCW or Anti-Clockwise) until you hear a small click. That's where the threads will grab. Works with any screw, but when threads are fine, this will help ensure that the screw is at the correct angle and will grab and seat perfectly.

One other note: The screw heads fit flush with the curvature of the case -- which means that they aren't exactly horizontal. In other words, they aren't perpendicular to the table that the computer is resting on. Don't try to force them straight in vertically, because you'll risk cross-threading them. (nearly ruined one screw hole myself!)

Reinserting the tiny screws was a pain, until I discovered this: initially turn them counterclockwise, till the threads 'agree' and the screw drops down into it's threded slot. Then go clockwise and they seat properly.

I just replaced the original hard drive on my mid 2012 MBP with a Crucial SSD from iFixit and am amazed at the new zip this has giving it! I first upgraded the RAM from 8 to 16 GB and that helped the speed but nothing like this new SSD, I found everything in this guide to be accurate for my computer. I did take the course of first cloning my original drive onto the SSD using the recommended SuperDuper! software, following the guide for that, and highly recommend taking that route.

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In case you need to install/reinstall your OS, the new MBPs no longer come with an install disc. To install your OS you will need to hold down CMD + R while booting up until it chimes. It will then walk you through the process.

After holding command + R during start up I ran into a problem using Time Machine trying to restore all the files in my system. Apparently the Samsung solid state SSD 859 EVO drive I put in first needs to be formatted before Time Machine can even recognize it! No error message appeared, but no destination disk could be located. Apparently that's what happens with an unformatted hard drive. The solution is to select Disk Utilities in the first window seen after pressing command +R. Then In the left sidebar I could see all the drives including the external hard drive with my Time Machine back up and also the Samsung solid state hard drive I installed. With the newly installed hard drive selected, use the default erase and re-formating options and click on ERASE (this will also format the erased drive). This operation was very quick. I then returned to Time Machine and voila, the hard drive was locatable as a destination disk.

I needed to install the OS X in the new HD using a USB (manual in applesfera), then I was surprised when after do all this guide I see a message "Can't verified the copy...." I fixed reinstalling my old HD, and run the old OS, changed the date and time, I change again the HD, but (this is the important) don't pull off the battery connector. If you disconnect the battery, the system lost the date and time and yo can't install the OS X with and USB. I don't test the cmd + R option.

Hi, I just replaced the original 750 gb hard drive on my machine that was having some problems. I replaced it with a 1tb hdd pluss ssd combo thing from seagate. When i booted and held down the option key the drive wasn't recognized at all. Any help would be greatly appreciated

I had the exact same problem. I used Carbon Copy Cloner to copy my old drive to the 1TB Hybrid drive. I put it in and it wouldn't boot. I ended up taking it into the Apple Store and they determined that the cord connecting the drive to the motherboard was faulty. This is a recalled part so they fixed it for free. Once the cable was replaced it started up without a hitch.

How can I format to macintosh journaled if my ssd wasn't detected on the disk utility ? Well I double checked I followed this tutorial but somehow my ssd wasn't in the disk utility. I used corsair neutron xt 240GB. Any advise perhaps ?

well thought out instructions with just the right amount of video. My only complaint is it would be nice to have the option to follow for example, the 3 most common scenarios for your readers to finish the installation. User 1, replacing old hard drive with new solid state drive and backup new solid state drive with the old hard drive using time machine. User 2, "replacing old.....new solid state drive and only want some of the data and backing up via direct connection to the old hard drive using blah blah blah. User 3, replacing old hard drive with SSD that already has been formatted and has the desired data and software on it. etc. If you all developed and A to B complete instructions with a drop down menu. You would raise the bar on DIY online. A) option 1 - have 2012 MacBook with the original 'Scorpio Blue' hard drive and I want to install a B) solid state drive and copy all of my data...option 2) just get a bland SSD drive installed for selling..etc. You all prob. have 60% options covered.

How the heck is this “moderate” difficulty? This is just about as easy as it gets. Remove screws, remove back panel, remove hard drive. The only way it gets easier than this is when there’s a single isolated panel that exposes the drive.

One problem I ran into - I could not install macOS from a Bootable USB. It indicated the installer was damaged. After re-creating the boot disk several time, re-downloading High Sierra, and confirming it works on other Macs, I found an apple discussion that suggested setting the time via terminal command before installing Mac OS from USB. The terminal command: ntpdate -u time.apple.com

This likely stems from unplugging the battery and the internal clock being reset.

After doing this, I was able to install macOS on the new SSD - hope it helps!

For anyone reading about time-related problems in these comments, I have a thought before you begin following this guide: you don’t need to disconnect the battery.

I have done 2.5” hard drive replacements like this on 13” and 15” MBPs dozens of times and never once disconnected the battery for this simple operation. I always use an anti-static mat to work on and am very careful about static electricity; but overall I would say for these types of Macs where the HD is such an easy swap, there is demonstrably no need to disconnect the battery, at least in my experience.

I replaced RAM and added a modest 128gb SSD and so far everything is working great. Install was very simple, although I found that a couple of Torx screws on the old HDD were missing. This seemed to have no effect on anything, the drive seated properly in its bay. I suspect this may have been a second hard drive as the pull tab was also missing. This machine was purchased used to allow upgrade to Mojave, my 2011 MBA will be orphaned under the new system coming up.

Hi I’ve upgraded two of my mid 2012 map. Doing one right now but I was only able to unscrew and Remove two out of the four 6.0 mm T6 Torx hard drive retaining posts from the sides of the hard drive. I even tried different screwdriver sizes. What could the problem and solution be? Pleaaaaaase help. Many thanks in advance